Points of View

U.N. Racism Conference Made Human Progress

By JULIAN WEISSGLASS


	'I don't think the media gave an accurate view of what occurred in Durban'

Last summer, 10,000 people from hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerances in Durban, South Africa. They were there to discuss policies and strategies for eliminating racism and to learn from each other's work.

Eliminating racism was the central theme of the conference, but other related issues were also addressed: gender, class, globalization, religion, land, refugees, disability, political power, peace, and human rights. The delegations had small exhibition booths to display their literature and talk to people about their organizations. There were plenary sessions, large and small caucus meetings, and workshops conducted by delegations in different buildings around the city.

I don't think the media gave an accurate view of what occurred in Durban. Reports focused on the political demonstrations and the frustrations people felt about the most contentious issues--especially the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The progress that people made in understanding each others' lives and work, in increasing understanding of the issues, in listening to each others' differences, and in discussing policies and strategies were not fully reported by the media, at least not in the United States.

I attended the NGO conference as a member of a delegation from United to End Racism <http://www.rc.org/uer>, a project of the Re-Evaluation Counseling Communities. Our delegation consisted of approxi mately 50 people from 14 countries representing a variety of racial backgrounds. Since our delegation had considerable experience with methods of healing the hurts of racism, we decided to do a series of workshops as a way of both communicating what we knew and providing emotional support for people at the conference.

Each day we offered workshops on a variety of themes such as: healing the damage caused by racism; the intersection of racism and anti-Jewish oppression; the role of white people in ending racism; racism compounded by sexism; and ending racism in education.

The memories that stand out for me are:

The thrill of arriving in South Africa and of being greeted at the airport by a South African of Indian heritage who was so proud that one of his ancestors had hired Gandhi as a young lawyer.

On the conference's opening day, Thabo Mbeki, the president of a democratic South Africa, in his welcoming address, speaking passionately and forcefully, about racism, classism, and sexism. I had never heard a president of a country use those words before. And I will always remember the African proverb he shared with us: "Until the lions have their own historian, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter."

Hearing from people from all over the world about their efforts to end racism, and how they had suffered from racism in their lives.

Listening to the passionate feelings of delegates about a variety of issues, the Middle East, the Roma people in Europe, the caste system in India.

Talking with black and white South Africans who had fought against apartheid.

How the advocates of reparations for slavery educated people about the history of racism.

Being part of a multiracial team effort, the small team of the UER delegates and the larger team of 10,000 delegates.

Although there were differences, we were all committed to ending racism.

Julian Weissglass is a professor of
education in the Gevirtz Graduate School
of Education and director of the National
Coalition for Equity in Education.